Through-feed ironing machine

ABSTRACT

IN A THROUGH-FEED IRONING MACHINE USED FOR APPLYING TREATMENTS SUCH AS IRONING, EMBOSSING, AND THE LIKE TO SHEET MATERIALS SUCH AS LEATHER, CARDBOARD, AND THE LIKE A FRAME OF THE MACHINE CARRIES A CANTILEVER SUPPORT SHAFT WHICH IN TURN CARRIES A SUPPORT MEANS THAT SERVES TO SUPPORT A ROTARY IRONING CYLINDER. THIS CYLINDER COAXIALLY SURROUNDS THE CANTILEVER SHAFT AND IS REMOVABLY CONNECTED WITH THE SUPPORT MEANS SO THAT THE CYLINDER CAN BE DISPLACED FROM THE MACHINE BY MOVEMENT OFF FROM THE SHAFT OVER A FREE END THEREOF WHICH IS DISTANT FROM THE FRAME. THE CYLINDER CAN BE REPLACED BY THE REVERSE OPERATION. PRESSURE ROLLERS ARE PROVIDED TO COACT WITH THE CYLINDER. THE JOURNALS OF THE PRESSURE ROLLERS ARE CARRIED BY A SUSPENSION WHICH IN TURN IS CARRIED BY AN EXTENDS RADIALLY FROM THE CANTILEVER SHAFT SO THAT IT IS THIS SHAFT WHICH CARRIES BOTH THE IRONING CYLINDER AND PRESSURE ROLLERS OF THE MACHINE.

United States Patent [721 Inventors Bohuslav Plechac Otrokovice; Josef Mudrik, Lhota U Malenovice, both of Czechoslovakia 21 Appl. No. 817,700 [22] Filed Apr. 21, 1969 [45] Patented June 28, 1971 [7 31 A ssignee Statni vyzkumny ustav kozedelny, gottwaldov, Czechoslovakia.

[32] Priority Apr. 24, 1968 1 3 3] Czechoslovakia 1 1 3017/68 [54] THROUGH-FEED IRONTNG MACHINE 5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S. Cl 69/43, 38/61 [51] 1nt.Cl C14b 17/00 [50] Field of Search 69/41, 42, 43; 38/60, 61, 50, 57, 58; 100/155 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 856,810 6/1907 Schieren 69/43 2,215,489 9/1940 Wardwell 38/61 3,160,968 12/1964 Fredholm .11: 38/57 Primary ExaminerAlfred R. Guest Attorney-Richard Low ABSTRACT: In a through-feed ironing machine used for applying treatments such as ironing, embossing, and the like to sheet materials such as leather, cardboard, and the like a frame of the machine carries a cantilever support shaft which in turn carries a support means that serves to support a rotary ironing cylinder. This cylinder coaxially surrounds the cantilever shaft and is removably connected with the support means so that the cylinder can be displaced from the machine by movement off from the shaft over a free end thereof which is distant from the frame. The cylinder can be replaced by the reverse operation. Pressure rollers are provided to coact with the cylinder. The journals of the pressure rollers are carried by a suspension which in turn is carried by and extends radially from the cantilever shaft so that it is this shaft which carries both the ironing cylinder and pressure rollers of the machine.

THROUGH-FEED IRONING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to through-feed ironing machines.

In particular, it relates to that type of through-feed ironing machine which is adapted to apply treatments such as ironing,

embossing to sheet materials such as leather, cardboard, and

the like.

Through-feed ironing machines of this general type are used for ironing and embossing operations, for example, in finishing the grain side of leather, in the finishing of surfaces of cardboard, felt, and similar sheet materials, under the influence of pressure and heat. Conventional machines of this type have heavy frames which often include heavy, large columns. Such structures are required to enable the machines to apply the large pressures to the treated materials. The ironing plates or cylinders are heated so as to enhance the treatment. The outer treating surfaces of the ironing plates "or the like form part of relatively thin, easily exchangeable walls in the form of smooth and polished sheets. Sometimes these metal sheets are provided with a predetermined pattern so as to achieve, for instance, embossing of leather.

One of the primary drawbacks of known machines of this general type is that they are extremely heavy and large so that it is impossible to locate them conveniently for a sequence of operations where the treated materials will be transported from one treating operation to the next one in a manner which is most efficient in connection with. the handling of materials. Nor do the known machines permit the provision of the shortest and smoothest path of movement for the materials during the sequential treating thereof by successive units in. a treating plant. Such plants will have various production lines extending, for example, into finishing rooms which may most conveniently be situated on the upper floors of the buildings. In

the case of a through-type ironing machine as referred to above it is not possible to locate the machine at an upper story of a building because the great weight of the machine renders it not only dangerous to support same on an upper floor but also extremely hazardous and inconvenient to install such machines at upper stories of a building, such as a tannery plant.

A further drawback of known machines of this type resides in the fact that the rotary ironing cylinder can only be changed with great inconvenience, and the same is true of operations required in the exchange of endless conveyor belts and endless steel belts which slide and guide during their operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a structure which will avoid the above referred to drawbacks.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a through-feed'ironing machine which is of a weight sufficiently light to enable the machine to be installed without any particular inconvenience at an upper story of a building without any danger that the floor of the upper story will be incapable of safely supporting the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide, for a throughfeed ironing machine, a rotary ironing cylinder which can be very easily and quickly removed and replaced.

Further, it is an object of the invention to provide, for a construction of this type, an exceedingly simple, lightweight means for carrying pressure rollers as well as for displacing them toward and away from the ironing cylinder in connection with assembly and disassembly operations.

In accordance with the invention, the through-feed ironing machine includes a frame which carries a cantilever supporting shaft that extends from the frame and terminates in a free end distant therefrom. An elongated hollow rotary ironing cylindercoaxially surrounds this shaft, and a support means carried by the shaft supports the cylinder for rotary movement around. the shaft. A connecting means removably connects the cylinder with the support means so that through this connecting means it is possible to remove the cylinder over the free end of the supporting shaft and toreplace the cylinder by reversing this operation. Pressure rollers coact with the cylinder and are carried by a suspension means which it itself carried by the cantilever shaft so that it is this shaft which carries not only the ironing cylinder but also the pressure rollers. As a result, it is possible for the entire installation to be made of such a light weight that it can conveniently be installed at an upper story and can be safely supported by an ordinary floor ofa building.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of thisapplication and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of the through-feed ironing machine of the invention, showing the manner in which work is guided therethrough to be treated thereby; and

FIG. 2 is a partly sectional schematic transverse elevation taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1, showing details of the machine of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED'EMBODIMEN-T Referring to the drawings in greater detail now, the throughfeed ironing machine includes a supporting frame I which has a floor-engaging base portion 1a and an upwardly extending end wall lbsituated at the left end of andextending upwardly from the base portion, as viewed in FIG. 2. FIG. lv shows the structure of FIG. 2 as it appears, when viewed from the right of FIG. 2, and it is clear from FIGS. 1 and 2 that all of the structures of the machine are carried by the upstanding left end of the frame I, as viewed in FIG. 2, with the machine structure extending from this end of the frame over the base thereof.

The structure of the invention further includes an elongated cantilever supporting shaft 3 which may be hollow and may, if desired, have a splined construction. A supporting bracket structure 2 forms part of the frame 1 and serves to support the cantilever shaft 3 in the manner most clearly shown in FIG. 2.

An ironing cylinder 10 coaxially surrounds the shaft 3 and is supported thereon by a support means which includes freely rotatable bearings 4 carried by the shaft 3 and inner rings 5 that are mounted on the bearings 4 to be freely rotatable around the shaft 3. The support means further includes, directly in engagement with the inner surface of the cylinder 10, outer rings 7 spaced from the inner rings 5 which are of substantially l-I-shaped cross section, as is apparent from FIG. 2. The outer rings 7 are split and resiliently expandable and contractable, tending to assume in their nonstressed condition an exterior diameter smaller than the interior diameter of the cylinder 10.

A connecting means is provided for removably interconnecting the support means with the cylinder 10. This connecting means includes axially displaceable wedge members 8 situated between the inner rings 5 and the outer rings 7 and capable of being displaced between positions pressing the outer rings 7 against the inner surface of the cylinder 10 and releasing the outer rings 7 for contraction inwardly away from the inner surface of the cylinder 10. For this purpose the inner rings 5 fixedly carry at their outer peripheries radial projections which support axially extending screws 9 that are schematically indicated in FIG. 2 as extending threadedly into threaded bores of the wedges 8 while being maintained against axial movement with respect to the rings 5 so that upon the turning of the screws 9 the wedges 8 willbe displaced in one axial direction or the other to provide for the connection or disconnection of the support means and cylinder 10 with respect to each other.

The cylinder 10 is in the form of a hollow jacket having outer and inner walls accommodating between themselves, in

a fluidtight manner, a partition 11 of helical configuration and acting in addition as a stiffener for the inner and outer walls of the hollow cylinder jacket 10. With this construction, a fluid heating medium which is introduced into the space between the walls of the cylinder 10 will be directed by the helical partition or stiffener 11 along several convolutions around the cylinder 10 in the interior thereof so as to efficiently heat the latter before the heating fluid is discharged from the space between the cylinder walls. As may be seen from FIG. 2, the helical partition 11 defines the spaces 12 through which the heating medium flows.

Moreover, the left and right rings 5 of the support means are axially spaced from each other by a spacer structure 6 which carries rollers 13, as is schematically shown in FIG. 2. When the sets of wedges 8 are displaced axially toward each other to release the expanded fixing rings 7 so that they contract in wardly, the cylinder 10 will rest upon the rollers 13 to be guided thereby for movement off from the machine during disassembly and back onto the machine during assembly. This movement can take place over the right free end of the cantilever shaft 3 which is distant from the frame 1, as is seen in FIG. 2.

As is particularly apparent from FIG. 1, sheet material 27 which is to be treated is directed through the machine by an outer endless conveyor belt 26 which extends around the lower portion of the cylinder 10 in the manner shown in FIG. 1. The outer endless belt 26 surrounds an inner endless pressure belt 25 which directly engages pressure rollers 22 each of which has a pair of end journals 21 extending through slots 23 formed in transverse walls of a guide frame 24 which also extends in cantilever fashion from the left end wall of the frame 1, as viewed in FIG. 2, and which includes walls extending parallel to the shaft 3, fixed directly to the frame at their left ends, and carrying the aforementioned transverse walls which are formed with the guide slots 23. These guide slots 23 extend radially with respect to the shaft 3.

A Suspension means is provided for carrying the pressure rollers 22, this suspension means itself being carried by end extending radially from the shaft 3, so that the single cantilever shaft 3 supports not only the cylinder 10 but also the pressure rollers 22. The suspension means includes a number of fluid pressure cylinder-and-piston units. Each of these units extends from a sleeve 14 surrounding and carried by the shaft 3 (see FIGS. 1 and 2), with each unit having a cylinder 15 which receives a piston 16 from which a piston rod 17 extends. A releasable coupling means 18 releasably couples each piston rod 17 to a tie rod 19 which carries a self-aligning bearing 20 that directly supports a journal 21 of a pressure roller 22. The releasable coupling means 18 may take the form of T- shaped ends of the rods 17 and 19 capable of extending through slots formed in opposed walls of a substantially U- shaped connecting member of the coupling means 18 so that this member can be displaced from the T-ends of rods 17 and 19, clearly shown at the right of FIG. 2, when it is desired to uncouple the rods 17 and 19 from each other. Such a releasable coupling means is located at least at those fluid pressure units which are situated at the region of the right free end of the cantilever shaft 3, as viewed in FIG. 2. While these fluid pressure units of the suspension means are preferably hydraulic, they can also be pneumatic or simply mechanical or vibrational units.

The pair of endless belts 25 and 26 are guided around driving and slack-eliminating tension rollers which are not illustrated since they are well known in the art. The sheet material 27 which is to be treated is placed upon the upper left end of the outer conveyor belt 26, as shown in FIG. 1, and is fed through from left to right.

In order to supply a fluid under pressure to the cylinders 15, a supply conduit system 28 is provided (see FIG. 2), which shows how part of the piping 28 extends through the hollow shaft 3. Through suitable valving the pistons 16 can be displaced axially along the interiors of the cylinders 15 of the suspension means' The fluid heating medium is supplied through a conduit system 29 also extending through the hollow cantilever supporting shaft 3, as shown in FIG. 2. The supply portion of the conduit 29 communicates through a fluidtight rotary channelshaped fitting 30 which surrounds the shaft 3 with a conduit 31 delivering the fluid under pressure to the interior of the cylinder 10 at the left end thereof. The fitting 30 rotates around the shaft 3 with the cylinder 10 while maintaining a fluidtight connection with the supply portion of the conduit 29 through a bore in the shaft 3. At the right end of the cylinder 10, the interior thereof discharges into an outlet conduit 34 which communicates with a rotary fitting 35 also fluidtightly engaging and turning on the shaft 3 with the remainder of the cylinder 10, the channel-shaped fitting 35 communicating with a bore of the shaft 3, which in turn communicates with the discharge portion conduit 29 so that in this way a circuit for a heating fluid such as steam or the like through the interior of the cylinder 10 is achieved.

The heating fluid is derived from a suitable source capable of automatically maintaining the supply of heating fluid at a predetermined temperature, the circuit including, for example, a pump to achieve forced circulation of heating fluid.

The helical path of flow for the heating fluid provided by the helical channels in the interior of thejacket l0, defined by the helical stiffener partition 11 therein, provides with the automatic temperature regulation of the heating fluid an exceedingly efficient and highly uniform temperature for the ironing cylinder 10. The flow of the heating medium is continuously maintained through the helical channels 12 of the cylinder 10 not only when the latter is at rest but also during rotation thereof so that a good transfer of heat is achieved as a result of the fact that the cylinder is in continuous readiness for use during operation of the through-feed ironing machine of the invention.

At its upper portion, a suitable heat-insulating structure 36 extends around cylinder 10 to prevent undesired cooling thereof.

When it becomes necessary to change a belt such as the endless felt belt 26 or the endless pressure belt 25, pressure is released from the cylinders 15 so that the pistons 16 move downwardly to their bottom end positions, and the couplings 18 are disconnected. Then pressure is reintroduced to lifi the piston rods 17, thus achieving between the rods 17 and 19 a free space as shown at the right of FIG. 2. This space is sufficiently large to provide for the required removal and replacement of belts as well as for the removal and replacement of the cylinder 10.

If it is necessary to change the cylinder 10, when it is desired to change a smoothed surfaced cylinder for a cylinder having an exterior surface of a predetermined pattern used for example, for leather embossing, and the heating medium is discharged from the interior of the cylinder 10, the branches or conduit portions 32 and 34 are disconnected, and the screws 9 are turned to displace the wedges 8 in directions which will permit the outer rings 7 to contract inwardly away from the inner surface of the jacket 10. Now thejacket 10 will rest on the guide rollers 13 so that it can simply be pushed out over the free end of the cantilever shaft 3, the cylinder thereby passing through the gap which is formed between the rods 17 and 19, as described hereinbefore. A new jacket 10 is then mounted in an operative position by reverse operations, and then the tie rods 19 and piston rods 17 are coupled to each other through the reverse of the above described coupling operations, whereupon pressure fluid is introduced into the cylinders 15 and heating fluid is introduced into the cylinder 10 to again carry out the operations with the new cylinder 10.

Thus, with the structure of the invention, the sleeves 14 and the suspension means carried thereby support the pressure rollers 22 directly from the cantilever shaft 3 which is subjected to a bending stress, but is is to be noted that this stress is not transmitted beyond the cantilever shaft 3. Only the bending moment is transmitted from the shaft 3 to the frame 1, this bending moment resulting from the weight of the jacket or cylinder with the structure supporting the same and by the weight of the rollers 22 and the suspension means carrying the same. These bending moments are present, however, only when the machine is at rest. During operation of the machine the bending moment is relieved as a result of the radial pressure produced by the pull of the inner and outer runs of the endless pressure belt 25 and supporting belt 26. When the machine is in operation the bending moment is transmitted by these belts to the driving and slack-eliminating tension rollers.

As contrasted with presently known machines, the throughfeed ironing machine of the invention is smaller and much lighter than conventional machines which can do the same work. it is convenient to situate the machine of the invention at any desired location along the flow path of the most efficient production lines for material which is treated. The machine of the invention can be easily installed on upper floors of tannery buildings and can readily be supported in a completely reliable manner by ordinary floors. Moreover, due to the fact that the ironing cylinder can easily be exchanged and due to the fact that it is easily possible to achieve any desired ironing pressure it is also possible to use the machine not only for ironing but also for embossing sheet material such as leather.

We claim:

1. In a through-feed ironing machine for applying treatments such as ironing, embossing and the like to sheet materials such as leather, cardboard, and the like, a supporting frame, a cantilever shaft carried by and extending from said frame, said shaft terminating in an end distant from said frame, a rotary ironing cylinder coaxially surrounding said shaft, support means carried by said shaft and coacting with said cylinder to support the latter for rotary movement, connecting means removably connecting said cylinder to said support means so that through said connecting means said cylinder can be removed from said support means along said shaft over said free end thereof and replaced in the opposite direction, a plurality of pressure rollers coacting with said cylinder and respectively having axes parallel to said shaft, and suspension means carried by and extending radially from said shaft and carrying said pressure rollers, so that said pressure rollers and said cylinder are all carried by said cantilever shaft.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said support means includes inner rings spaced inwardly from and surrounded by said cylinder and outer rings spaced from and surrounding said inner rings and having unstressed conditions where said outer rings have outer diameters smaller than the inner diameter of said cylinder, said outer rings being spreadable against the inner surface of said cylinder and said connecting means including wedge members situated between said inner and outer rings and screws coacting with said wedge members for displacing the latter axially with respect to said shaft between positions pressing said outer rings against said inner surface of said cylinder and releasing said outer rings for movement inwardly away from said inner surface of said cylinder, and axial spacer means spacing said rings axially along said cylinder and carrying rollers which engage the inner surface of said cylinder when said outer rings are not pressed outwardly against said inner surface of said cylinder to support said cylinder for axial movement along said shaft during removal and replacement of said cylinder.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said suspension means include fluid-pressure cylinder-and-piston units.

4. The combination of claim 3 and wherein said frame car- .ries a guide formed with slots extending radially with respect to said shaft and receiving journals of said pressure rollers to guide the latter for radial movement with respect to said shaft in response to actuation of said fluid pressure units of said suspension means.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein said fluid pressure units include units located in the region of said free end of said cantilever shaft, and at least the latter units having coupling means capable of cou ling and uncoupling said fluid pressure units to ournals of sai pressure rollers, said coupling means having an uncoupled position providing a space through which said cylinder can freely move when displaced off from and replaced on said shaft. 

